Story+1984-08-12+East+Rutherford,+NJ

´´This is a song about....you get in the middle of the summer like this, there´d be nights when, I remember, I´d take my bicycle and I´d go out real late when I was a kid....and I´d just ride around all the empty streets....and you´d get this feeling like, you´d be feeling like you´d never wanna go home....´cause everybody´s gotta have some place to go when they don´t wanna go home.....”
 * 12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´The River´**

´´Getting loose now....now this is a song....about many things....one of the things it´s about....is getting older....now is there anybody out there old as me tonight ? (cheers) see, I´m old but I´m bold....is there anybody out there old as the Big Man ? (less cheers) not that many (chuckles) but he still looks so fine....now, this is about when you go into a bar and you see somebody who you haven´t seen in a long time....and all they wanna do is talk about what a great time you had in high school....that´s what they always say ´Bruce, man, did we have a great time in high school !...boy, that was fun !´....now, personally I hated high school....I can´t stand high school....everytime fall comes around, I´m glad I don´t have to go to high school....I had a terrible time back there.....I wasn´t good at sports, I wasn't good at my studies, I wasn't good at....I´ve got a little bit better at that since then, that's right....anyway...I had a bad time then but I´m making up for it right now...."
 * 12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Glory Days´**

´´It´s a little wet up here (chuckles)....oh, thanks, thanks....this is uh....I had a bedroom, I used to live on this street called South Street in Freehold....and uh, I had a bedroom that was out over the backyard and I remember that....my dad had a rule, he never, he never rode anything that cost more than a 100 dollars (chuckles)....and....every morning I´d hear him, first thing I´d hear in the crack of dawn is I´d hear him out there opening the hood, trying to get one of those old, old cars going so he could get to work....so....this is uh, he´s here tonight and he´s gonna go home tomorrow so I´m gonna do this song for him....I´ll tell him that he did a good job (chuckles) thanks....”
 * 12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Used Cars´**

´´Thanks....this is uh....this is a song that´s....I remember I was 16, I used to take the Lincoln Transit up to Port Authority...just to get out of my hometown on the weekends, you know....and I remember when I was a kid, I guess most people as they get older, they, they, uh, go through some sort of love-hate-relationship with the place they, the town they grew up in....I remember when I was 16, it was mostly hate (chuckles) I wanted to change everything, I wanted to, I wanted to take off, change everything about myself, I was gonna change my name, I always wondered, I always used to bother my mother and ask her why she called me ´Bruce´ (chuckles)(crowd calls ´Bruce´) that´s why, right (chuckles) sounds good (chuckles)....I got used to it....you get used to a lot of things (chuckles)...”
 * 12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´My Hometown´**

´´(after dancing with his mother) That´s my mama !....she had the moves....that´s where I got all my stuff....”
 * 12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, end of ´Dancing in the Dark´ **

´´Thank you....I always....sometimes I´ll be laying in bed at night and uh....guess I always consider myself real fortunate in that when I was real young, I found something I really loved to do....and uh, I dreamed about it a whole lot and I got to do it, you know....you know, this is uh....when I was 15, I was 15 and a half, I went into this hulabaloo club in Middletown, New Jersey and uh....they used to have these clubs, there used to be this show called ´Hulabaloo´, used to have all the English groups on and they had a chain of clubs that were kind of modelled after the show and I met, uh....(?) been my best friend for a long time and uh....we kind of....dreamed about lot of the same things together and, you know, bought all the latest records and tried to figure out all the guitar parts off the records and uh....so this is for, this is for Little Steven wherever he is tonight....he´s got a great, his new album, Voice of America, is a really, really good record, if you get a chance, you should pick it up....”
 * 12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´No Surrender´**

´´Now....this is a song....about the conflict....between worldly things and spiritual health.... between desires the flesh....and spiritual ecstasy....between the mansion on the hill and the mansion in the sky, between the cynics and the sceptics and the true believers, now what I wanna know tonight is how many of you out there believe that if you should die, and I hope this doesn´t happen, if you should die during the show due to excitement....that you´re gonna go to heaven ? (cheers) now, how many of you think that if you should pass away during the final moments due to cardiac arrest or some other terminal disease that it´s possible that you´re gonna have to pack your Bermuda shorts and take the down elevator ? (cheers) now, me.....I know I´m gonna go to heaven....now, I´m gonna miss the band but I´ll get over it....because in the beginning....He created the heavens and the earth and He sat back and said ´This is good´, on the Second Day, He got hot and He created air-conditioning and He sat back and said ´This is good´, on the Third Day, He grew hungry and He created cheeseburgers and the Lord sat back and said ´This is good´, on the Fourth Day, He created rock and roll and He sat back and He said ´This is good´, on the Fifth Day, which was Friday night, He decided He needed to go for a drive, He created the pink Cadillac and the Lord sat back and said ´This is wild´....”
 * 12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´**

´´It was night just like tonight....except it was hotter....and it was a long, long time ago.... I´d just met Clarence....I was working in the bowling alley setting up the pins....he was working at the massage parlor, the lawyer´s office....and we were sitting out on the curb downtown on Main Street....and we realised that we had nothing going....we didn´t know what to do with ourselves, we had no direction in our lives, our lives were meaningless, we didn´t have any guidance, we didn´t, we didn´t know what we were gonna do, we, we needed some faith, we needed some hope, we needed a date....Clarence decided that tonight that we should´ve gone, we should go on a, it was a spiritual search, I´d say, wouldn´t you ?....he said he knew a gypsy woman outside of town....that could help us out with our problem....so we got into his Oldsmobile and we drove south on Route 9....way down, way down deep into the pines....we parked on the side of this dirtroad and about two miles in, we came to the gypsy woman´s shack.....and she told us that the answer to our search would be ours and all we had to do....was to walk through that forest....but in that forest there was a monster and we were gonna have to get by that monster....to get what we wanted so into the forest we went....(?)....and sure enough there it was, the biggest grizzly bear we´d ever seen, I don´t know how he got to New Jersey but one of us was gonna have to take him on (?) and so they started out, they swung at each other, they did the belly whammer....and then they (?)....and it was a take-down, wait a minute, one, two, Clarence still had his shoulder up, but, oh no, he had the Big Man in the dangerous sleeper-hold.....it was then that I knew that I was gonna have to jump in and help my buddy (Max drums real hard)(?)....the monster was gone and there....the moon fell from the clouds....and over in the clearing, we saw the answer to our search.....we stood there in the moonlight and then....when we touched....”
 * 12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, middle of ´Growin´Up´**

´´Slowly I turn....ladies and gentlemen....it is now time for the part of the show where I get to introduce the members of the E Street Band....beginning with our newest member ....from South Jersey, Jim the Dancing Bear !...don´t worry, folks, he´s completely docile ....and then, going to my far left....on the piano, the man of our intelligence, a man whose brain is crammed with more useless, I mean interesting information than any individual has ever met, a man who gave up a scholarship to Harvard in unusual sexual practises just to tour this year with the E Street Band....the only member of the band with a complete high school diploma, let´s hear it for dedication, education, ´Professor´ Roy Bittan....on the vocals, an alumni of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Miss Patti Scialfa....on the bass guitar, a man who brings you the thunder from way down under, Mr.Garry W.Tallent....on the drums, the one, the only Mighty Max Weinberg ....on the organ, the inimitable, the inevitable, the immoral, the unconceivable, the unbelievable, the fantastic, the wonderful, the incredible, the original sinner, ladies and gentlemen, Phantom Dan Federici.....lookout girls, he hates to be alone....and now, on the guitar, a man as sweet as life itself, drumroll please....Mr.Nils Lofgren (Nils does his trampoline stunt)....and now, last but not least....he´s a lean, mean love machine, ladies and gentlemen....I have no words to describe him so gimme a C-LA-R-E-N-C-E, what´s that spell ? (crowd : ´Clarence !´) what´s that spell ? (crowd : ´Clarence !´) what´s that spell ? (crowd : ´Clarence !´) Clarence ´Big Man´ Clemons on the saxophone....”
 * 12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, middle of ´Rosalita´**

´´This is to Errol and the Light Boys from Jerry....”
 * 12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Jungleland´**

´´This is....I´d like to thank everybody for coming down tonight, thank you very much.... this is uh....when I was....when I was growing up and I heard the music of Elvis Presley, it kind of set my mind free so that I could dream a little bit more, you know, and uh....guess in the end his music....and the best of rock and roll to me always just said ´Let freedom ring for everybody everywhere´....but remember you gotta fight for it every day....”
 * 12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Born to Run´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//